Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-06-05
LEDGE WAXEM ABROAD
THE WAYBACE CONGRESSMAN TELLS
ABOUT PLYMOUTH.
His Experience With an English Customs Officer
In an English Hotel Something Of the History
Of the Ancient Town Of Plymouth.

In IN ElgtISh nOtel-OOiNelhllg Vi lo uSs"J
Of the Ancient Town of Plymouth.
Sylrtal Correspondence Of tr Sunday REGISTER.
PLYMOUTH, Eng, May 20.-ln my laS'
letter to your valuable Journal, which wa'
also the first, | believe | stopped writing
lust as Mandy and me sot foot on the sol
that has been growing crowns and thorn'
fer hundreds of years, and we was so glao
10 he once more on the ground that Wa
wasn't very pertickler what it growed'
We went direct to the custom house,
where, for the first time in my experience
A representative of monarchy laid his hands
ON my property, with the power t" do witt
it purity much as he pleased, Mandy wa,
looking n little skeered as they yanked ou'
baggage around and like to tore a hole IL
a G~avoritc carpet sack, but | encouraged hel
nv telling her that congressman had somt
rights which even 4 mlnlon oil Il loreigI
potentate was compelled to respect.
"His that luggage yours, slrT' says
mann in a last years uniform to me. =.
s.In course it is, " says | to him. Don
Won see my name, Wabash =. WaXem, NJ,
c. from Wayback, wrote on the end OF NJ.
COW wor Hi TO know your name, sir!
saws he, sort OF apOlOgizing.
~ am q member Of congress, sir, IRON
Wayback, " says | drawing myself up.
Did you say that you wasa Hamerlcan
CONGRESSMAN, sir?" says he after he had
finished his examination.
Certainly l did" says |, feeling my
oats.
'.IIar yOu sure?" says he, looking mean,
"IfI amt, why amt I?' says |, getting
fired up and answering equivocal.
There's no arm, | 'Ope, sir?' says he.
but Hi ave failed to find hany whisky or
tobacco in your luggage, and we halmost
Railways finds them, sir, in Il Hamerlcan
congrcssman's ~luggages."
-
Before our baggage was fairly tied up
again 4 couple OF truckmen had tackled 1t,
and, ordering them to take it to the Duke
of Cornwall hotel, Mandy and me followed
along aioot. 1t vast far, and besides we
felt so GOOD Ia he OH the ground that we
wonld have walked if it had been tOur
miles over a dirt road. When | settled for
bringing up the baggage the scoundrels
charged me three shilling's lseycnty-iive
cents and | took IN appeal.
Its too much" says | to the boss.
Hits little enough, sir" says he, ''for
pushin' them trunks hup this ill, and
times his very ard ere, SIR
"Wcll, that's no business OF mine" says
|. Il amt running your country, and |
didn't come ont here tu make times better.
4 congressman ON s., 600 u year, and no
prruuisites, amt expected 10 ~rcgcnerate
the whole Ut Great Britain ON one trip, is
hcy'
They didn't try to answer my remarks,
hut they insisted on three shillin'S, and
Mandy came to the front.
did you make 4 contract" says she in
u business like way.
"Of course l didn't" says |, s~heepish.
'"Then pay the BILL" says she, ''and
charge one shilling for baggage and two
Shillings for your lack Of gumption, and
that caSe was settled.
nlJ l u 10 NltllOul hldhhy N""lu p'
hard to say.
We went on into the office and a woman
met Us.
".Air you the landlady?" | asst, taking
of my hat, though | thought it mighty
funny it fine hotel like that was run by Il
woman.
She smiled on me till | almost wished
Mandy was at home, and said she was the
clerk, and | saw | had made u mistake,
but | never let on, and ast for Il room rs et
| had been used to that style all my life.
She gave us one ut -. til. leighty-iOur
cents a day on the second floor, and we
started for it. Inquired where the elevator
was, and was informed they didn't keep
one i'm the house, and we had to climb the
stairs. When we got there Mt last | took
a cheer to rest, and | looked ut Mandy.
lis this the second floor | asked her.
IL suppose So says she; "but | reckon
they commence to count from the roof
down. and she was right.
Eghty-tOur cents q day wasn't much,
though, for so much style, and we didn't
complain. As soon AZ Il baggage was
brought up, and we were lett by ourselves,
we began to compare Our first English
hotel with the American brand, and we
found that ~ far us "hOme comforts" was
concerned one was Just about rs good ~
'tother. WeIad gas, and fire, and water,
good beds, aud all tine etscterys we had up
in Washington or New York, and right
away / began to feel that England wasn't
Us bad rs | had thought for. We got our
eating in the hotel, too, hut that was
charged eXtry, and q good deal cxtry it
seemed to me before | got done with it.
For twelve mortal days ON the boat |
hadn't seen q newspaper or heard a hit of
news, and | was mighty anxious to know
what was going on III Ameriky, so | got q
Plymouth paper, ~ big ~ a table cloth,
and looked for American news. Up one
column and down another | looked, till
the last, and the only thing | could find
was an advertisement saying that the Hon.
Jefferson Davis, late president of the c. S.
A., heartily recommended somebody's
patent medicine or something. | thrOwed
the durn sheet out OF the winder. and re.
llected upon the cOlyumns of foreign mat.
tiers in American papers, and what a cOm.
fort they must be to foreigners hungry fUl
news from their native lands.
| took Plymouth rs a landing place be,
cause | remembered that the Pilgrim
Fathers had sailed from there IN the May.
flower, and they give IL " country such
a start. Then Mandy's folks was of Puritan
bread, and | thought it would compliment
her to stop there tust.
That took in my knowledge of the place,
but | learned after we had walked over the
town and read up II little on it, that il
wasn't no SLOUGH in the history of oul
mother country.
The city gets its nan from being built
ut the mouth of the River Plym, and it is
a very old place, fairy tales being told o
giants lighting there 100 b. c. Some o
the houses look like they was built the
spring before that. 1t is made up of tn,
three towns of plymouth, Stoneh0uSe and
Davenport, and has about 80, 600 popula
ton. II is y business place, a great ship
ping point and Il naval rendezvous, and it,
pet name is the metropolis of the West. >
| reckon the town is about 600 years old
went first To the city buildings apl